The Video Games?

The London Olympics will leave many legacies; social, cultural, sporting and infrastructure. But, Tom Kelly argues, a lesser hailed legacy will come in response to overcrowded public transport, busier roads and packed accommodation – the rise of Video Conferencing and TelePresence.

For some a quick solution to avoiding the predicted disruption will be to take advantage of a Video Conferencing and TelePresence solution. As we have discussed in a previous post, Has video collaboration come of age, the quality of experience is now far superior to anything we experienced 10 years ago.

But, shouldn’t the solutions businesses have put in place to overcome disruption during the Olympics Games also provide a beneficial legacy long after the tourists have left and the celebrations fade?

Investing in video need not be a short-term fix – and organisations that have not simply exploited video to alleviate three weeks of transport disruption will see long-term benefits across their entire business ecosystem.

Used in the correct way technology can enable a more agile business and when used with real strategic intent, the smart application of technology can have major impacts on the way a business works.

How then can your business benefit from this technology?

Improve interactions with customers – If you want to ensure your customers do not feel the impact of a packed London and you continue to provide the same or better levels of service, why not fund a secure desktop / mobile video solution for key executives or contacts within your customers’ business?

With Video as a Service there is no need for your customer to implement any video infrastructure, and most desktops or laptops can support video with the simple installation of a software client. You can then have regular or ad-hoc video meetings without the need to travel.

Remote working – During the Games, allow employees to work from locations outside of the affected areas in London, ensuring that productivity and day-to-day work stays consistent. Video isn’t just about where we work, it’s about how we work, and enabling your business with video will give individuals the flexibility to work in ways that suit them, giving your business a happier and more committed workforce.

Flexible working hours – Implementing a video solution will enable employees to work from home – steering clear of the Olympics’ permanent rush hour. They will always be contactable and productivity will not slip.

Communication with key suppliers and partners – It is clearly important to keep in contact with customers during the Olympics, but communication with suppliers and third parties should also be maintained. Insist that suppliers video-enable the key individuals or locations that manage your product supply chain, making them accessible and accountable via video.

Better and faster decision-making from boardroom to factory floor – Video has always helped people make smarter and faster decisions, reduce workplace stress; it is human nature to interact visually. Taking video to more locations, putting video on more desks, and making video more mobile makes collective decision making a reality, especially when executives are sometimes thousands of miles apart. And if you combine the use of video with advanced decision making tools, such as business analytics, executives can see each other and real-time business data, all from their desktop or room environment.

What your business should be doing right now?

If you haven’t already put in place video collaboration solutions, to help ease your business through the Games, it is not too late:

Deploy video immediately – Video as a Service doesn’t require you to deploy any of your own video equipment or make major changes to the IT infrastructure that’s already in place. That means minimal impact on your IT department and virtually no on-going support overhead.

Deploy video with no capital expenditure – Video as a Service is an operational expenditure, and you pay monthly for the number of desktop enabled endpoints and room systems. Advanced services such as video session recording, gateways to other video users, and VideoPA services are also available on a pay as you use basis. So, having no available capital budget doesn’t mean you can’t start reaping the benefits of video.

Use high quality video from anywhere – High quality video is no longer limited to expensive room systems. You can deploy on desktop and laptop computers, and if you have access to the Internet you are immediately video enabled. You can use the camera now fitted as standard in most laptops, or use an external high definition camera for the same level of experience you would receive from a room system.

Justify the cost of deployment in days – With desktop video from only £30 per month per user, you can now fund six months’ worth of video for an executive for less than the price of a peak return rail fare from Manchester to London. The business case doesn’t just add up, it is compelling.

What better legacy for business can the London 2012 Games provide than leaving organisations smarter and more aerodynamic?

About Tom Kelly

Tom has been Managing Director of Logicalis UK since 2004, and following the successful merger of its computing and networking divisions in 2006, has evolved the business to become a leading UK Systems Integrator and managed service provider.

He has over 30 years of ICT expertise including MBO and private equity experience, excellent contacts across the ICT sector, and is known to be frank and open in discussion.

Today Logicalis owns and operates its own data centres, providing customers with made-to-measure hosted and managed services, and is an acknowledged thought leader in cloud computing and the benefits it can bring to shared service delivery.

2 Responses to The Video Games?

Joanne James

When 55% of everything we say is conveyed by body language, and not ‘what we say’ or ‘how we say it’ then face-to-face communication becomes imperative, and video conferencing is now so good, that the flexibility to talk with colleagues in different offices or in different countries, is very effective. I experienced one great example of this on a telepresence call with some colleagues in Brazil, and in Argentina. When one party made a suggestion, I could see from the facial exchanges of the second party that they didn’t approve but nothing was said. I would never have picked up this little nuance over the phone and it just demonstrated how powerful this tool can be.

I couldn’t agree more, I recently did a pitch to a prospect over a conference call using webex to show the presentation, not being able to see their reaction was like tying my hands behind my behind my back. Of course they may have been nodding in agreement, but all I could hear was the stony silence of disapproval!

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